If I had an extra laptop I would. I just trashed a old P4 mobile laptop that had the screen and keyboard busted

I will look around to see what I have in terms of spare parts to piece together a cheap PC. I wished I could swipe one of our visix boxes from work, its a 45nm C2D mobile with 2GB DDR2 intel 4200HD in a small 8x8 square box.

Just play a bit of B2K, I love the MP7, I know statswise it doesn't stack up to the other guns, but it just feels so right. Reminds me a bit of the pp2000 from BC2, once I get the extended clip for it, it I will be beasting.

by John Gaudiosi
Electronic Arts-owned DICE might not have won the sales battle against Activision's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, but the acclaimed game studio has won over millions of shooter fans. Battlefield 3 offers a very different multiplayer experience, serving up a sandbox filled with the latest vehicles, jets and technology-equipped ground troops. Now that the dust has settled and the developer has had some time to take a breather from developing new DLC for the game, DICE executive producer Patrick Bach looks back at one of the biggest games of 2011, in this exclusive interview.

What were your goals heading into this game?

We wanted to create a game that strikes a balance between depth and accessibility; something that feels fresh and truly next gen. We wanted to create the biggest and best Battlefield ever. The most immersive and physical first person shooter ever. And we wanted to build the true successor to Battlefield 2 while explore new ground and pushing technology forward.

How do you feel the final game lived up to those goals?

I think we pretty much nailed it. I am very proud of the game and what the team has accomplished. I feel we have created a great platform from where we can keep evolving Battlefield 3, Battlelog, and the series as a whole.

What impact has DLC had on the development process, especially with ideas that weren't able to be fit into the final product?

Pretty much anything we wanted in the game, we got into the game. The way we work with DLC is we can expand upon the existing experience while being bold and experimenting to a degree. The Back to Karkand expansion pack that just launched is only the beginning in our quest to wholeheartedly support Battlefield 3. We will keep exploring new ground for Battlefield 3 in the future.

What are your thoughts on the fan feedback that the game has received?

We absolutely love feedback, and I am very happy that we have such creative and constructive players out there. The feedback overall has been overwhelmingly positive. At the same time, I think it is important as a developer to listen to issues that can crop up when millions of people start to play your game at the same time. It's almost like the game takes on a life of its own at that point, and we are listening to feedback and looking at how people are playing so we can keep fine tuning the game. If you have any feedback at all, we're grateful if you keep in touch and leave it at the Battlelog forum.

How will that feedback impact DLC and future games?

Some of the tweaks are made to balance what our players feel are non-balanced situations, like the recent IRNV nerf (where the night vision scope was reduced in its effective range to keep it from being too powerful). On a more overarching level, we try and always listen to our community so we don't produce games in a vacuum. Case in point: After the Open Beta, we realized that our persistence system at the time made people rank up too quickly, so we tweaked it for release. It's the kind of thing you can judge and react on when the community really can sink their teeth into your game and that is hard to simulate at the workplace.

Can you give us any specific examples?

Just a totally hypothetical example: If it turns out every Battlefield player suddenly hate jets, we'll have to think about why. Is it the jets themselves they hate or something how they played in the last game, and if so, how can we make them awesome in the next game? Also, we have a lot of expertise here at DICE. We will keep creating games that we love to play, and hope that the community loves them just like we do.

Once your game was completed, what did you do that you'd been putting off because of the production schedule?

I haven't been playing a lot of games other than Battlefield 3 lately, so it's great to be able to get my hands on Batman: Arkham City, Skyrim, Uncharted 3, and more this winter.

How much time do you get to enjoy a game's completion before your mind turns to what comes next?

I've experienced some crazy Battlefield Moments in Battlefield 3, and I love watching all of the crazy gameplay videos that keep popping up and I love to play the game. But once a game is out there, my work is more or less done on that title, and at DICE we of course have a long term plan for the studio and what we are doing going forward.

What's something that you're most proud of when it comes to this game?

My goal and my job as executive producer is to make sure that all of the moving parts in this huge game fit together, so I tend not to think so much in terms of what specific features I like the most. If there's one detail I'm most proud of when it comes to Battlefield 3, it's the fact that everything fits, the game feels like a complete and homogenous package, while having a unique personality and identity.

What's something that you would change if you had been given an extra few months of development time?

You can always do a bit more polish with extra time, of course. I wouldn't have changed any significant features with more time, though.

What do you do for fun when you're not focusing on game development?

I like to work out, play soccer, and go places. If there's something interesting to see or experience, I want to go there, even if it's to a suburb of Stockholm I haven't been, or the other end of the globe.

Some days just go that way. I'm used to it though. I do have to say I level up a lot easier on BF3 then I ever did on BFBC2. In 2
years of playing that or what ever it was I only got to level 28. Almost there with BF3 already.

Just been playing other things, still probably won't get into as much as I did BC2, not being able to level buildings is a killer issue for me. I strongly dislike most of the BF3 maps, it's just a camp fest, B2K is a lot more open, more enjoyable, but without the leveling on buildings it still feels a bit lacking to me. Though I will be playing now and then.

I think you mean BF3. But any building taller than 1 story can't be leveled, and thats most buildings. With maps like Grand Bazar, Operation Metro, Seine Crossing, and Damavand Creek I'm not sure how you couldn't see camping. Most of them are maps made of corridors, something like Seine, the only way to get to the other side of the map is to cross 3 bridges which will get you killed by Snipers or Mortars, or to swim across the river defensesless and still risk death. Just not the kind of fun I like, for most of the B2K maps the flags can be attacked from every single direction, and they lack choke points like that. I like to have freedom of choice on where I'm flanking from, or heck, even have the ability to flank.

But there is camping on all of the maps I agree, Recon climb the tallest buildings right when the map starts, then to get them you have to as well, but you have to do it once the battle has started, and most of the time you just get shot climbing a massive ladder. And that just brings me to the point of, not all buildings can be leveled and it makes me sad. I'd rather have 3 story buildings that can all be leveled. But not to be a negative nancy I have had some fun with B2K, so I'll keep plugging at it now and then.

I think you mean BF3. But any building taller than 1 story can't be leveled, and thats most buildings. With maps like Grand Bazar, Operation Metro, Seine Crossing, and Damavand Creek I'm not sure how you couldn't see camping. Most of them are maps made of corridors, something like Seine, the only way to get to the other side of the map is to cross 3 bridges which will get you killed by Snipers or Mortars, or to swim across the river defensesless and still risk death. Just not the kind of fun I like, for most of the B2K maps the flags can be attacked from every single direction, and they lack choke points like that. I like to have freedom of choice on where I'm flanking from, or heck, even have the ability to flank.

But there is camping on all of the maps I agree, Recon climb the tallest buildings right when the map starts, then to get them you have to as well, but you have to do it once the battle has started, and most of the time you just get shot climbing a massive ladder. And that just brings me to the point of, not all buildings can be leveled and it makes me sad. I'd rather have 3 story buildings that can all be leveled. But not to be a negative nancy I have had some fun with B2K, so I'll keep plugging at it now and then.

Hmm, I've tried camping and I always end up dead because none of my guns are not supressed yet. I only recall one time when a sniper has really giving me a lot of trouble and that was in a Karkland map (don't remember which one).

I do agree that swimming across a gap that leaves you defenseless is not the best idea but this is why the maps that have that also have vehicles. It takes a team effort to succeed in those scenarios (if not an organized assault, diversionary tactics).

They made most buildings not completely destroyable because in high-ticket servers, there could literally be nothing left except piles of rubble. That's not exactly fun.

Snipers camping on roofs can be difficult, at the same time, it makes you think strategy and strategy often involves a vehicle or a rocket launcher. The ladder is often the worst route to take to defeat an enemy sniper. XD

BF3 also offers you the ultimate camping. That is when you have the third seat in a tank in conquest and the other two guys know what they're doing. So I found myself going out for a smoke and a coffee and when I got back I had several thousand points. Once I finished second in my team with 0 kills 0 deaths but then I was pretty active designating all targets in sight...

Guys whats with that damn javelin lock on sound when you're marked in a helo/jet. Is it a bug that I can't hear it and it hits me or is it intended like that ? Also sometimes I shoot out flaires the lock on sound goes away and boom I still get hit by it.

Guys whats with that damn javelin lock on sound when you're marked in a helo/jet. Is it a bug that I can't hear it and it hits me or is it intended like that ? Also sometimes I shoot out flaires the lock on sound goes away and boom I still get hit by it.

Its a bug, I encountered this last night. I found out the worst thing I hate!! The ECM jammer! I was trying to take down a heli last night and everytime you get a lock on it does this clouded smoke thing around the heli which knocks off your lock, then when you finally get locked on he would shoot flares FML!!! One heli dominated the map last night and he may have gotten shot down one the whole round.

Most of them are maps made of corridors, something like Seine, the only way to get to the other side of the map is to cross 3 bridges which will get you killed by Snipers or Mortars, or to swim across the river defensesless and still risk death.

This is one of the things that tanks are for. It's one of my favorite things to shoot out the sides of random buildings in Seine making them scurry like rats and in some cases die. And every now and then you get the extra awesome bonus and kill a guy or three down on the street with falling rubble.